STEVENSON admits it's changed days since Hibs were humbled by their city rivals in last season's Scottish Cup final.

LEWIS STEVENSON went into hiding after Hibs were hammered 5-1 by Hearts in last season’s Scottish Cup Final.

But now he’s a high-visibility believer that Sunday’s win over their city rivals, which has set up a home tie against Aberdeen or Motherwell, could help rewrite 110 years of history.

Kids in the street know Geronimo was still alive when Hibs last lifted the Scottish Cup in 1902 but the midfielder trusts Pat Fenlon’s squad to revise the record books because Sunday’s win has freed all of them from the bout of depression that started last May.

Stevenson said: “It took me a long time to get over what happened at Hampden. I locked myself in my room for a month afterwards.

“I couldn’t read newspapers. I couldn’t watch TV and didn’t want to be reminded about anything that happened that day. But football specialises in ups and downs and what happened against Hearts this time is a major step towards correcting the past.

“One game doesn’t make up for losing the Final in that manner. It would take Hibs to beat Hearts 5-0 one day for that to happen. But what was a horrible experience has been made a little easier to handle after knocking Hearts out.”

Hibs’ win halted a run of 12 games without a victory over Hearts. Now Stevenson would like to see a long sequence of derby wins to prove the balance of power in Edinburgh has switched from Gorgie to Leith.

He said: “I’d love to go on a run against Hearts like they did against us. Why can’t we? We can play a lot better than we did against Hearts on Sunday and if we can play as badly as that and still win it shows we have the strength of will to grind out results.

“Hearts have a good team and I’m sure they’ll eventually climb the league but we felt confident we could hold out when David Wotherspoon scored late on.

“You could see the heads of the Hearts players dropping and they went a bit more direct in an attempt to save the day. But I thought they were better when they were passing the ball about.”

Stevenson doesn’t mince his words when assessing the match. He said: “It was a horrible game to play in and I would imagine it wasn’t a good game to watch. But it will always be remembered by the Hibs fans because it broke a long run of negative results against Hearts.

“It’s ironic we got the win despite not playing particularly well because we played an awful lot better against Aberdeen at Easter Road recently and lost.

“It’s just great to have a derby win to talk about. But the overwhelming feeling, if I’m being honest, is pure relief.

“There’s a few of us who’ve been at Hibs for a while and wins against Hearts have been few and far between so it’s nice to be able to celebrate one at last.”

Sunday’s win has also helped Hibs boss Fenlon win over more of the supporters who were sceptical about him after the Cup Final debacle.

Stevenson said: “The fans seem a lot more positive this season. We lost to Aberdeen by the only goal of the game and got clapped and cheered off the park because we’d played so well.

“That’s unheard of at Easter Road. I can remember winning and getting booed off the pitch. But now the fans are behind the manager and the players and that’s why I think we can go all the way in the Cup.

“We’ve got a smaller squad than in the past but it’s stronger. There are options for the manager and competition for places which keeps everyone on their toes.

“The other irony is we’ve tried to play football in the right way and that all went out the window against Hearts. It was a battle and it ended with the manager’s first win over Hearts.

“This season the fans have backed what the manager is doing and the negative atmosphere has gone from the stadium.”